Thursday 28 July 2011 16.13 EDT
First published on Thursday 28 July 2011 16.13 EDT

Many words spring to mind when you think of Ravi Bopara: talented is one of them, certainly, but unfulfilled is surely another. There is a real possibility that he will never add to his 10 Test caps.

One word that has not, perhaps, always been associated with the 26-year-old is responsible. Here, however, with his side in some trouble against Leicestershire and on a pitch offering the bowlers a great deal of assistance, Bopara responded with an innings bursting with discipline, patience and skill.

While one game in charge is surely too early to judge Bopara – captaining Essex for the first time in the County Championship – the early signs suggest that he is the type to relish the challenge of leadership. This was only his second half-century in 10 first-class innings.

How his team-mate, Owais Shah, could learn from such an example. Instead, however, of getting his head down and working for his runs, Shah danced down the pitch and was stumped. Sometimes it is not hard to see why Middlesex and the England selectors lost patience.

Instead Billy Godleman lent his captain support. Godleman's 77 was not, perhaps, the prettiest of innings but it was a valuable contribution. It was the highest score on this ground in nine innings and, in partnership with Bopara, he added 104 – easily the highest stand of the game – to turn a first-innings deficit of 58 into a lead of 110 by stumps. On a pitch that remains helpful to bowlers of all types, Leicestershire will not relish a target far in excess of 200.

Earlier, the 22-year-old leg-spinner Tom Craddock polished off the Leicestershire innings in a spell of four for 14. His real challenge, however, will surely come in the fourth innings of this game.